Healer of the Blood
by AuroraLamia
Summary: Richard, Kahlan, Cara and Zed catch a woman hungry for apples, unable to fight, unable to eat meat, but able to detect even the slightest scent of disease or poison.
1. Prologue: Escaper

She streamed through the trees, the blue dress slicing through the air with the young woman's body. Her face strained for breath as the sound of her heartbeat pounded within her head. The lack of oxygen brought a pained metallic taste her mouth as adrenaline clouded her central thoughts.

In the distance behind, she knew the men were following at relaxed pace, believing without a doubt that there was no rush to retrieve her, that the barricade of the town remained strong.

Her foot caught upon a root and she fell to the ground, her hands – against the ground - slid harsh friction against her soft palms. Even through the thick material of her dress, she felt friction alight her legs. Pain coursed its way through her nerves, but she jumped back to her feet and kept on running, knowing that if she stopped, the men would catch and drag her back to the town, locked away from the lands she'd only been to as an infant.

The girl was careful this time, she didn't allow her feet to touch the dead leaves, she didn't allow her self to fall because it would only take a single second for them to capture her, a second she didn't have time to spare since the fall.

Her heart beat faster; fast enough to burn her lungs like white-hot needles were inhaled into them. Her vibrant red curls, unmistakable even in the darkness, made her obvious to the men – somehow they were catching up. She reached into her breast and pulled out the charm upon the end of the charmed chain.

'_By the Creator, I hope this works'_ she pulled at the chain and felt the clasp let go at the sharp tug. She stumbled again, but caught herself before she fell to the ground; it slowed her done enough for the roar of the men to be heard.

Something had made them aware that this wasn't like the other times; maybe they saw her determination, her panic or perhaps the glowing stone – it didn't matter because it was too late. She was at the boundary, at the very edge of the woods. She threw the stone and watched at the barrier parted, allowing her to pass, before sealing behind her.

The closing of the boundary wouldn't stop them though; it would only slow them down. She placed the necklace back on as she ran down the sloping hill – towards a farmer's horse stables.

May the Creator forgive her for this last theft.


	2. Chapter One: Thief

Darkness fell again onto the Midlands; this was the third night for her. She wasn't alone, she had the horse, but soon she'd had to set the young mare free into lands, the horse was something she could be easily traced with. The thought terrified her. It wasn't that she wouldn't have a companion that scared this young maiden; it was the thought of lying under the silver-edged, dark clouds that hid the moon and stars, alone, without another creature near her to reassure her that she was still amongst the living.

She'd never been truly alone before. When she had lived in the hidden town, there had always been _some_ type of movement in the darkness, some sound that reassured her that everything was under control. She was losing control and it terrified her.

The fire began to die, and she curled up against the horse's body for warmth through the autumn night. The only 'blanket' she had, was the thick material of the charcoal clock that she had traded her rings for, along with supplies and a simple dress that was promised to be good in all weathers.

'_Maybe all weather's of the summer,_' she thought briefly with sadness, '_but through the winds of autumn, the coldness bites though the material and tears through my skin to eat at my bones._'

The horse slept easily near the dying flames, though the girl was unable to, and only fell asleep when her thoughts finally used the last of her energy for the day. But before she fell asleep, she promised to free the horse once she reached the edges of the Forest that was just two day's travel from where she was. She had two days of companionship left.

It would be difficult to get through, especially with so little preservatives left, but somehow she'd make it, and she knew that with her being so far ahead of the men, it was unlikely they would be able to catch her if she went through the forest.

-I-

The forest was thicker then she expected. Her cloak would snag on barren branches, and her feet catch upon broken levels of ground or on the above ground roots. She had yet to fall or tear at her clothes, but her paranoia would constantly lead her to believe that someone was catching her cloak or grasping at her ankles.

That wasn't the worst part though.

Her preserves has ran out the night she first arrived in the woods – she had given her last apple to the horse and had been left with the last piece of cheese and scrap of bread, it hadn't been much and had definitely not fulfilled her then and within a day's time from now – possibly even sooner – the hunger cramps would kick in, slowing her down even further.

She needed to eat, no matter how little it was – because if she didn't soon, then her stomach would start to eat at its self and eventually she would starve to death – a fate she dare not wish upon her worst enemy; she'd seen the results of the starved, and the after effects of those who starved themselves and then ate so much that their stomach was unable to digest the food – it wasn't pretty.

She needed an apple, or bread, or something that would fill her up, but also something that wasn't too much.

She looked up to the darkening sky and gasped with joy. Smoke was rising in the short distance! By how thin and small the smoke was – she assumed it was campfire though there was only one way to be sure.

Her pace quickened, the hunger within her driving her past the exhaustion and fatigue that wore at her body and echoed in her bones. Faster then she estimated, she arrived near the camp. Through the trees and bushes, she peeked out on the crackling orange-lit camp. It was quiet, and it seemed as though the passing travellers were all asleep.

Rabbit stew sat covered, simmering upon the dying fire – something she was literally unable to eat because of the meat - but the girl's heightened sense picked up on the scent of apples coming from a pack which lay a distance away from the fire, but close to the three sleeping figures. The three people lay in between the larger roots of the trees in a thinner section of the forest that was probably closer to a trail she had avoided.

One of them was snoring, whilst the other two seemed to just have heavy breaths, it was loud enough to hide her light footsteps, but soft enough that most probably they would awake if she broke a stick under her foot.

She had to be careful.

-II-

Cara stretched her shoulder muscle as she listened to the night's air. Something was off, it seemed quieter – and although insects were still singing in the light of the half hidden moon, it seemed like some had stopped. Her eyes focused through the trees, seeing if it was near where she was – but no, no nocturnal animal raised their head near her, there wasn't even a shuffling in the bushes.

She turned around, the hairs on her neck prickling at something her other senses didn't pick up upon. When she had turned around, she almost cried out in anger and ruined the element of surprise in catching the thief.

She grabbed her weapons, pulling them from their holds and watched as the young maiden crept into their camp. Her feet were light on the ground, trained to not make a sound. Cara watched closer, curious about the girl as she walked past other bags that were of obvious more use, with important items edging out of them, and headed towards the bag containing the apples Kahlan had bought in the previous town a week ago.

The girl's hood slipped from her head, revealing eyes as blue as winter's ice upon the last azure blossom, with hair the colour of freshly spilt blood on snow tumbling down her back in ringlets.

Cara took that moment to run at her, swift upon her feet, but her heavy boots were loud enough to turn the girl's head. Her breath let out a gasp as she took a few of the red and green apple and stood back up to her full height before she began to run.

The Mord'sith ran faster, the element of surprise now gone, she jumped at the last moment and her fingers reached out and grazed the cloak, unable to grasp at it completely before her feet hit the ground again. The jump had been premature and had allowed the girl to get away.

There was no point running after her now, after all, the only things she stole were a few apples. Besides, the only reason that Cara attempted to run after her was because of pride. She didn't want the others to know that she had allowed someone to get into their camp without her noticing, even if the maiden had been trained to be fast.

She turned around and looked at the still sleeping figures, she cocked her head to the side and allowed a small smirk - they hadn't noticed a thing.

The confrontation between her and the girl had been quiet enough that nothing had aroused their sub-conscious, though this was good for her pride, it was a worrisome thought. If the girl had been an assassin it was possible that one or more of them could have been killed.

Cara checked that the red-head girl had done nothing to upset Kahlan's apples, before she, herself, took one and went back to where she had been, her fingers twisting the stalk of the apple as she contemplated what had just happened. Though she looked relaxed, the Mord'sith was higher on her guard then before, wondering if she'd catch another glimpse at the girl and another attempt to heal her bruised ego.

-III-

She'd been able to steal four apples. Four was enough to get her through if she paced herself, and now that she knew someone else was walking the trail, making their own tracks, she'd be able to use it, but only scarcely.

It would only be a day or two until she got out of the woods, then she'd be able to find a wider variety of food.

Luckily on her way back, she had found a plant – that though it's leaves had been poisoned to kill rabbits, the roots were unharmed. And while the root its self couldn't be used as food, it would add a spicy taste and an added texture to the apples if she were to stew them over a fire and over the days eat that.

The girl's fingers tapped against her thigh as she finished off the apple. It had been well worth the excitement of getting caught, to eat the apple. She thought back on the woman dressed in tight leather and wondered if the woman had saw her, or if she had just sensed she was there – regardless, the woman was quick and had almost grabbed her, she had felt it through the cloak. If the woman had tried grabbing the material instead of her body, she surely would have been caught, but as luck had it, she was safe.

Next time she might not be so lucky.

She slept as harsh as she had the other nights, with the lack of a good cloud cover allowing the heat of the day to escape into the night's sky, leaving her cold and without another living body to share heat with. She had nothing but her cloak against the rough ground as she lay a safe distance from the fire.

Dreams plagued her sleeping mind with amalgamated memories blurred to become a single thought in a near-endless torment. Every time she awoke from the same dream drenched in sweat, she would awake alone and afraid of the seemingly prolonged darkness that embraced her fear with a cold smile.

When the sun finally broke through the tree's branches, she opened her eyes in terror for the final time. She packed everything away and put out the rest of the near-dead fire – though pocketing some of the charcoal for later use, her thoughts scared but calm as she did the tedious work of preparing to get back on the move.

A few days, that's all it would take, just a few days – and only then would she feel that she had escaped the men entirely, because after that it would be too difficult to track her. That's what she believed, and every time she got up in the morning, and lied down to sleep at night, that's what she would tell her self.


	3. Chapter Two: Healer

Kahlan slowed down her pace so that she was walking next to Zedd, able to ask the same question she has asked Richard. "Did something happen three nights go as we slept?" Zedd looked at her before looking at Cara, knowing that the reason the Mother Confessor asked was because she had realised when Cara's mood had begun to change.

"No, to the best of my knowledge, we all slept like a log until our shifts came," Kahlan sighed and stared at the back of Cara, "you should ask her if something happened to bring on the bad mood."

"I don't think that she'd be the type to share something if it doesn't affect any of us personally," she replied softly.

"You won't know until you try," Zedd replied wisely.

Kahlan nodded at the wizard before speeding her pace up, she passed Richard with a worried smile before catching up to Cara. The Mord'sith gave her a sparing look before continuing her glaring at the far horizon. Kahlan stared at her for a while, trying to figure out what could cause such a foul mood before Cara snapped at her.

"What?" Kahlan blinked and furrowed her eyebrows at the venomous comment.

"Sorry?" She replied softly, rolling her tongue around the word easily in confusion.

"Why are you staring at me?" Cara held back on her frustration, knowing that Kahlan didn't deserve for it to be taken out on her – though she did feel that it was necessary to take it out on someone. So far she had taken it out on the pebbles upon the ground, and herself internally.

"Something is obviously frustrating you, I just wanted to ask if something happened."

"No, nothing has happened Confessor," she spat before speeding up her pace. Kahlan sighed, hurt by the woman's words, and dropped back to Richard.

He touched her hand softly in reassurance before giving her a small smile. "Don't worry, it's Cara, a deer probably escaped her and now she won't be satisfied until she's killed at least six more in it's place," he joked to lighten the mood. Kahlan smiled at him before looking back to the wrath-filled woman.

"I know, I just wish she'd tell us – it makes me nervous for other people when she's like this."

"I know." He squeezed her hand, "but there's a town in a distance, after a hot bat, I'm sure she'll be fine, she'll just tell off some people, get into a fight and then get kicked out of a tavern, after that she'll be fine." Kahlan laughed softly at him, smiling with closed lips as she usually did.

Richard knew this meant that she believed him and felt happy to know that he could help her in that small way.

-I-

Easily, the young redhead ate the last apple, finally seeing the town. After coming out of the woods, she had to climb a few hills and over pass some fallen trees and a small creek – it had been fun though, and along the way she had came across some more apples!

She picked some for herself, and then some extra 'just in case'.

She licked greedily at her fingers before stopping in her tracks. She took a few steps back and turned her head, roughly towards the east. She took in a large breath for her nose and picked up what her sub-conscious had. An infection. She dropped her bag by the tree and jogged to where a wolf crouched low upon the ground, desperately trying to clean the wound of her child.

"Hush, it's ok, I'm a healer," she whispered as pulled the breast dagger out of her dress, "I promise you that I'm here to help." Her voice was calm and soft as she treaded low and carefully towards the animal.

The mother growled and the girl stopped before returning back to the tree and grabbing her bag, pulling out the flask of water, before she looked around the tall trees. She ran over to a specific one, and with the breast dagger, cut off the large leaves before cutting into the branch so as to pull sap from it so as to have it trickle onto the large leaves.

She then briefly cleaned the dagger upon her cloak and placed it back in between her breasts and ran over to the mother and pup. The mother growled at her, "Back off," she told the wolf, showing alpha status, "I am helping your child," she then ignored the mother once it had backed off.

With the flask of water, she briefly cleaned her hands, before using the rest to clean the wound that was infected best she could, then she pulled out her dagger, and with one hand, held the pup down, whilst with the other hand she cut into the wound and dug out the main cause of the infection. It hurt, not only the pup, but also her. But she'd dealt with worse, and she could deal with this.

She placed the leaves over the wound, using the sap as a method of sticking the fur to it as well as to help it heal. "You'll be ok, if you keep it clean, everything will be better, but you'll need to feed and drink more." Neither the pup nor the mother actually understood what she said, but they received the general idea of it. They at least understood she had tried to heal the pup.

-II-

Cara entered the tavern first, her mood as dark as it had been when Kahlan had asked her about it. A few nights ago, when it happened, she'd been fine - but as she pondered on it further, she became more and more angry with herself. The girl was light on her feet yes, but she also had been dressed in summer clothes, which told Cara she was poor, not to mention that she was stealing. The girl had been nothing more then a common thief!

Mord'sith don't allow their goods - wether it is weapons, jewels or apples - stolen from them. It just wasn't done!

And all that is the why she had been in such a dark mood.

The tavern went silent at her entry, before Richard and Kahlan walked in and stood beside her. They relaxed at the Seeker and Mother Confessor's entrance only because they assumed that she was harmless if she was with them. She rolled her eyes and watched as Kahlan and Richard were fawned over as Zedd made arrangements for bedding and food, trying to offer to pay, though the man refused to make them all pay.

'Idiots,' she thought as she scanned over the room. Her eyes suddenly stopped at the back of a charcoaled cloaked figure. She walked over and placed her hand sharply on the round shoulder of the figure, and spun the person around. When she saw their face, Cara stared down at the ice-flower eyes, and watched as the girl's eyes opened wide in surprise and horror.

The girl stumbled for her bag at her feet and opened it to show the apples, "It was barren in there," she said apologetically, "I only needed a little, here," She dug into the bag and pulled them out, "it's funny- I actually expected that I'd see you again here." She placed five apples in Cara's hands.

"You only stole four."

"Think of the last as tax then." The girl smiled kindly and kissed Cara's cheek before she could react. "Sorry again," she said when she pulled away, laying coins on the table as she left the tavern. Cara stared at the strange girl before walking back over to Zedd.

"Where'd you get those?" He asked.

"A gift for the Seeker," she lied easily, handing them over. "Offering of some sort or another." She shrugged her shoulders and looked around the tavern, "Can we get a hot meal now?" Zedd looked back to the Tavern keeper who nodded and indicated to a table by the window.

"Shouldn't be long," the middle-aged man said with a grin in Cara's direction, "is there anything else-"

"No."

-III-

In the late of the night, she had come across a woman in search of a healer, or someone who could help her daughter. She walked up to the woman, and explained that she was healer and could help her no matter the problem. The woman had been sceptical at first but now, as her daughter's severe fever finally broke, the woman was joyous and had even offered her to stay the night.

She took the offer, having no better place, but refused to move anywhere far from the small child, only to make sure that there were no other symptoms that prove to come from a worse source then what she had first thought.

By dawn, she felt that there was nothing else wrong with the child but prompted the woman to make sure that the child eat, "if she vomits her food, it means she just needs to keep hydrated and wait longer before eating, she'll be fine, I promise you."

"Thank you so much, I made some food for your travels - I hope it's enough."

"Thank you, for your hospitality and for this - I wish you and your family the best." With a parting smile, she left. Never giving the stranger her name, nor asking for one in return. Leave no name behind, nor no telling of which direction she is headed would keep her safe

Pacing her hood back up to hide her hair, she exited down the path and was just about to set foot on the trail when something inside of her rang a warning bell. She spun around, causing the man to miss capturing her by the width of his eyelash. "Healer, make this easier for all of us and give up." His voice had been calm and commanding when he spoke.

She stared down at him as the other soldiers surrounded her.

"No." She dodged another man's outstretched hand and jumped as someone tried to kick her down. Soon all of them were grabbing at her. She jumped, grabbing onto a low branch of the old tree, and jumped over the men. She ran as the men, in their chaos, tried to detangled themselves and run after her.

There was no way the men had caught up to her. In her state of running, she thought over what could have happened, and quickly came to the assumption that they'd took a logical guess at where she'd be headed to and went to the town instead of following her tracks. They truly were determined to get her back. She turned her head around, to check if they were still hot on her tracks - they were.

She couldn't lead them into the town; someone could get into the crossfire and get hurt! The only thing she could think of doing was leading them away from town and hope that she'll be able to escape them by other means - such as losing them.

She ran down the path, and when coming to the T-section, she turned left instead of right.

Already she was getting tired, she shouldn't have used all her energy in the beginning to speed her way out of there, instead she should have tricked them and paced herself, their endurance was far better then hers.

-IV-

"Do you even know where we're going?" Cara asked.

"Yes, we're going... this way." Richard pointed further down the track. He turned to smile at her, but as he did, a girl suddenly ran onto the path from a section of the road that turned left, and ran to where Richard had just pointed.

Cara stared at her- it was the same girl. Three times they had crossed paths within a week. And the girl definitely wasn't following them, not with the men running after her.

Without even communicating with each other, everyone prepared their body for battle, arming their selves the only way they individually knew how. Cara ran forward first, the lust for battle and need to satisfy her curiosity burning through her veins, drove her forward as the others followed shortly behind.

The men didn't see them, it was only after one of them fell to the ground screaming like a pig in slaughter from the Agiel, that they turned and became aware of the third party. They turned sharply, their eyes ablaze with fury as three of them turned and attacked the three of the four new-comers, as the other man continued to run after the redheaded girl, whilst one man lay dead upon the ground from Cara's weapon.

Kahlan hit the man in the back of his lower neck with the hilt of her dagger before striking him to the ground by a sharp kick to the back of the knees. He fell quickly, and without time to think and realise whom exactly, he was truly up against, she grabbed his neck and released her Confessor power within him.

"Command me mistress," he spoke as silent thunder broke away from her as she released the withheld magic.

As she had been fighting one of the men, Richard had been fighting another, his sword blazing in the crisp morning light that reflected brightly against the smooth metallic weapon. He laid a blunt force to the man's head and watched as he collapsed to the ground. There was no time to check if the force had been strong enough to kill the man or merely just knock him unconscious, he had to help the others first.

Zedd had easily disarmed and disorientated the man who was now unconscious, half on the path and half on the grass. He tilted his head and kicked at the man to roll him over and check at his status. He was alive, but deeply unconscious. The wizard frowned, something inside of him warned him not to kill the young man – he didn't see evil, just… under orders.

"Where's Cara?" Richard asked. Zedd looked away from the young man to Kahlan and Richard.

"I assume she went after the fifth man." He said, "by now I wouldn't be surprised if she'd caught and killed the man."

Kahlan frowned, "Michael here says that they're under orders to retrieve her, they meant no harm to us or even her, she's just refusing to be compliant."

"Why?" The Seeker asked as he sheathed his sword.

"Michael, why do you want the girl?"

"She's a Healer of the Blood." Zedd made a reaction of surprise at the man's statement.

**A/N: **I re-uploaded the last chapter because I didn't realise the paragraph breakers didn't transfer. My mistake, sorry guys.


	4. Chapter Three: Stranger

Cara sped towards the final man, using her adrenaline to the maximum so as to catch up to him and the girl. She sped around the corner, and saw him with the girl in his grasp. She wasn't fighting back, wasn't kicking; she was only struggling – trying not to hurt him.

She pushed the Agiel into the man's side, and he screamed in agony like swine, letting the girl go – who then collapsed to the ground clutching her side as though she too was in pain.

Cara paid no attention and kicked at the man, itching for him to fight back. She kicked him onto his back and straddled him, pinned his arms to his side with her knees as she place the Agiel against his neck before someone grabbed her hand and pulled it away.

"Stop!" The girl shouted, panting as she clutched Cara's hand as though she were the one who'd been tormented.

"Why?" Cara asked. "Wasn't he going to hurt you- is he not 'the enemy'?" She mocked words she'd heard Richard say before.

"Yes- but that's not the point." The girl looked in her eyes, but before she could speak, the man had pushed the two of them off of him and away, before he began attacking Cara. Cara swung at him, hitting him in the head with the Agiel, before she kneed him in the stomach, and finally, as he begun to fall, she then swiftly landed a kick with the side of her calf to his back so he fell face forward in the dirt.

The girl was unconscious on the ground from the man slamming her away from him, resulting in her being pushed into a large rock that sat off the edge of the road. Her body lay in an awkward position as she soundlessly slept in a black dreamscape.

Cara, with no one to stop her, slammed her leg down on the man's neck, cracking it- killing him instantly without the fight she felt that she had deserved from him. The chase had been fun, but not as fun as what she had expected the confrontation to be. With an internal sigh she looked down at the limp body and nudged his shoulder with the Agiel – just check if he was dead. There was a spasm from the muscle locking up – but the face remained passive, no reaction, he was dead.

Richard and the others then span around the corner, shouting at her, "Cara, don't kill him while-" they stopped as they realised they were too late. They're sprint fell to a light job as they came to her.

"What?" She demanded as she placed her weapons back into their holds. "'Don't' what?" They looked at each other before looking at the girl. Zedd walked over to her and checked her vitals.

"She'll be fine, she's only unconscious – most likely before she was able to stop Cara."

Cara raised an eyebrow and looked at the other as though they had begun speaking a foreign language, "She _tried_ to stop me, though I have no idea why," she looked at the girl, "who _is_ she?" She resisted the urge to nudge the girl with her boot. She didn't trust her.

"_What_ would be a better question," Zedd replied as he lifted the girl up and examined her. "She's already healing, the concussion will be gone in a few seconds."

"What are you _on_ wizard?" Cara demanded loudly, "What is going on, why didn't you want me to kill him?" The girl's eyes shifted beneath her eyelid, she groaned and touched a hand to her head, muttering in comprehensibly as the wizard helped her to stand up on her feet.

"She's a Healer of the Blood Cara." Cara raised her eyebrows.

"They're a myth!" She exclaimed.

"Your face is." The girl replied. Kahlan, Richard and Zedd all let out a small laughed at the girl's comment as she finally opened her eyes. "Oh!" she exclaimed in a happy surprise, "it's _you_!" She grinned, "I didn't think I'd see you again." She laughed and went to take a step towards Cara before stumbling and collapsing on the ground again. "Oww," she groaned.

"Are you ok?" Kahlan asked, worried that the girl had been hurt more then what Zedd had first thought.

"Apples," she muttered crawling in the ground, "I need my apples, or a carrot, or…" she went on to list fruits and vegetables before Kahlan held out an apple from her bag. Richard just looked at the girl strangely, in all of his most wildest thoughts and dreams, he never thought he see a girl crawling on a dirt path, asking for fruit. It was surreal!

"Here you go," Kahlan offered with a smile as she held the apple out to the girl.

"Thank you," she muttered before sinking her teeth into the apple as she held it like it was the first thing she'd eaten in days.

"Why is she eating an apple?" Cara asked, looking at the outlandish behaviour of the girl. Never in all of her years as a Mord'sith had she ever been so weirded out.

"Healer's of the Blood gain their strength back from the Creator's foods that she gave them, the virtuous women eat-"

"You're getting the story wrong," the girl stood up and brushed dirt from her curls as she continued to munch on the apple, "It's not your fault, one of the women wrote our story don't purposely wrong so that when we're sought to be contained and controlled the people didn't know how to fully do so. I mean, it's true that we gain our strength from eating fruits and vegetables but that's only for something minor – a quick fix really, but we truly gain strength from helping others, healing, and we're not always women – we can be male, in fact the males are the better healers. Also, we're not all virtuous, most are but a rare selection isn't."

The elder looked at her strangely, "I thought that the breaking of chastity stole your powers."

She shook her head and ate the last of the apple before answering, "depends on what 'type' of Healer, it's all very confusing and there are too many ifs and buts to the whole thing, it's just easier to say 'sometimes' instead of a definite answer, I'm sure the same could be said with most things."

"So why couldn't I kill the guy?" Cara drummed her fingers against her folded arms impatiently.

The girl looked at her before walking over to the corpse, "you would have killed me had I been able to feel the pain, by magic I am bound to the patients pain, what they feel when I am awake, I feel so I know the best methods as to help them." Cara stared at her. "Because I can do that, I am able to save more lives – a lot of the people I help can't tell me exactly how the pain feels but because I _know_ it's easier to help them."

Richard looked at her, "but if you were a mid-wife-"

"I felt my mother's pain. From birth only the strongest of the Healer's survive birth, later we sit in on other Healer's so we are able to learn about the pain, I almost bit my tongue off when I sat in on a woman who gave birth to Siamese twins, it tore the woman, but she survived, so did the children – but before Healers can be a midwife, they must first birth a child, _they_ are the selection that are not bound by the rules of chastity."

"So… lunch anyone?" Zedd asked.

-I-

"I have a question!" The girl declared. Everyone hushed and looked at her, "what are your names because if I call you by a characteristic, I'll just confuse you all."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked as he bit into a sandwich.

The group was sitting in a circle, with Cara and Richard sitting on a log, Kahlan leaning against the log and Zedd and the girl sitting across from them on the grass. Each had their own food, wether it be leftover stew, sandwich, or in the Healer's case- bits and pieces of fruit she had cut up.

"Well, Wizard here would be Gramps, Confessor would be Girlie, you'd be Muscles and the Mord'sith would be Blondie," she smirked, "if it makes it easier for you all to tell me your names, my name is Aria." She smiled with open lips, showing off her teeth.

"Kahlan."

"Richard."

"Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, but you can call me Zedd." She smiled at them before looking at the unspoken woman who avoided eye contact.

"Cara." She finally said, angry at the girl, "you happy?"

"Much." Aria sat up straighter before Richard began to look at her weirdly, "Why are you looking at me like I suddenly sprouted leather wings?" She stared back at him worried. Richard looked between her and Cara.

"You two have met before, haven't you?"

"She gave me the apples." Cara said, before sending a warning look to Aria that no one else caught. "Right?"

"Five apples, picked them off a tree, gave them to her, blah blah blah!" She sighed, "I know this is going to come out of no where and everything, but do you mind if I travel with you guys? At least to the next town or somewhere where I can hide better? I'd rather not have to deal with those men again and I just know that the 'High Councillor'-" she said speaking mockingly at the title, "-will send more."

The foursome looked at each other, as though they were all silently communicating, as they did so, Aria ran her fingers through her hair and detangled the knots that were caused from the fight.

"It _would_ be good to have a healer if someone got hurt."

"Oh, that reminds me, one of you has got a minor infection from a wound that haven't properly been treating - I don't know which of you but mostly likely you're getting an itch from it and by tomorrow it'll be oozing and smelling kind of bad." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the root; "if you shred pieces of this off and place it on the wound with new dressing it should be fine."

None of them owned up. She stood up and walked around each of them twice before walking to Kahlan. "Can I see your shoulder?" She showed her shoulder, minor scrape but nothing to what she was looking for. "Try and not get sweat on that," she kept moving and looked at Richard, "remove your shirt."

"What?"

"Don't be scared, I'm a healer, there's nothing I haven't seen before, now - Shirt. Off." He complied to her wishes and removed his shirt, muttering as he did so. She looked at his lower abdomen and handed him the root, "that bandage is six hours overdue for a change, I assume that someone sliced you with the very corner of their weapon a long time ago, it _should_ have been healed by now but obviously you haven't been looking after it."

"I've had worse."

She stared at him with cold eyes, "I will force you to do this you realise, now, dressing, clean, _now._" He jumped, as her eyes seemed to place icicles upon him. She looked as though she were furious mother.

"I'll help you," Kahlan murmured as she stood up and took him by the hand to a stream near by.

"Damn men are as worse as Mord'sith."

Cara turned to her. Raising her eyebrows she asked in a cool tone, "you've dealt with the Mord'sith?" Aria jumped at the words before realising what Cara had meant, laughing she nodded and sat back down where she had been before.

"Only the special ones." Cara narrowed her eyes at the girl before turning away.

Zedd too, narrowed his eyes at the girl, trying to work her out, before he decided that the girl would tell more of her story in due time. There was no need to rush her, at least, not yet anyway. The wizard returned back to his food as Aria cocked her head at Cara.

"What are you looking at?" Cara demanded, trying to frighten the girl. Aria did flinch at her words but still refused to look away. Instead she hopped up onto the log and whispered in her ear so that Zedd was unable to.

"I know your secret." Cara stared at her and Aria kissed her cheek before hopping up once more. Again Cara was unable to dodge the woman's lip on her cheekbone, but somehow, some part of her expected this. She looked at Aria, judged her; she was touch-y feel-y for a reason that Cara was sure she didn't want others to pick up on. And just like that, she realised something as well about the woman.

She didn't tell her, just looked the girl up and down to make sure she was right. The girl didn't notice, her eyes were on the reappearing form of Kahlan and Richard – just as the Wizards were, but Cara was sure now. Sure she knew a secret of the girl, something that she didn't want them to know.

And although she wasn't satisfied with how she snuck up on her – she probably wouldn't for a while. She at least trusted the girl more then she usually would have.

"Shall we leave Seeker?" Kahlan looked at her good mood, and concluded that something had happened while she was gone, but decided not to speak on it lest the bad mood return.


End file.
